Gone But Not Forgotten: Frontier Village, Part II

When I was putting together our first Frontier Village post, I thought it would be fun to get some memories from someone who had worked at the park, preferably someone who packed a six-shooter …

Courtesy Allen Weitzel

Fall Guys Allen Weitzel, Chuck Lowe and Randy Mitchell back in the day.

Allen Weitzel was employed at Frontier Village from 1966 until the park closed in 1980, working as a groundskeeper, ride operator, assistant operations manager, food manager and eventually in charge of all entertainment. Perhaps most importantly, he filled in as an outlaw and cowboy, and still performs as one of the “Fall Guys” stunt players — including this Saturday’s annual reunion picnic.

After Frontier Village, Allen went to the Winchester Mystery House, and then to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. He was on the phone at his Boardwalk office when I caught up with him earlier this month. (For more historical context, check out this article at Frontiervillage.net):

Allen Weitzel on recruiting gunfighters …

The canoe ride was a prime target to look at for possible cowboys or entertainers. It had a spiel to it, and they also had to have muscular guys. I’d say, “Steve Stroke is now on the canoes, but he has the look of an outlaw, or the look of a Marshal, or whatever.” We were using real guns, and we were using blanks. We’d take them out to the far west or the badlands, and I’d teach them to fall without injuring the gun and without firing it.

Pat Johnson

The Fall Guys in the 21st Century.

On the challenges of being a good gunfighter …

We didn’t have the Garth Brooks headset mics in those days. You just had to be able to enunciate real loud. We had to teach them to count their shots. If you fire too many warning shots, when it comes time for the gunfight, you run out of ammo, and the gunfight looks stupid. … At Universal Studios they have a rubber stage, and it’s fully padded. At Frontier Village, the guys had to fall on hard, hot asphalt in the middle of summer. You had to be the right kind of guy to want to do that.

On Allen’s introduction to the amusement park business …

My brother Warren heard about Joe Zukin starting this Western amusement park, and he wanted to buy stock in it. Warren worked there from 1962 until he went to Vietnam in ’66. In the meantime, I was going to Oakland’s California College of Arts and Crafts to be an art teacher. I ran out of money and came home one summer, and went to work at Frontier Village.

On the success of Frontier Village …

Frontiervillage.net

Allen at a recent picnic.

Joe’s philosophy was always that the customer absolutely does come first, and that even equated into equipment. If you had a hot office, we weren’t going to buy you an air conditioner when we needed another bench on Main Street. Joe told us, “Unless you’re 100 percent sure you’re right, you’re going to make some accommodation to an aggrieved customer.” He didn’t believe in firing your customer, which is what they do in today’s world.

On the screaming noises in the background as we conduct this interview …

That’s two things. I’ve got the Hurricane out my window (at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk), and I’ve also got the Double Shot outside my window. Those are the kids who are not ready for the height of the Double Shot. They think it doesn’t look to tall until they get up there at 125 feet.

On the high jinks at Frontier Village …

“We used to have Easter Egg hunts on the main lawn in the central square. (Marketing director) Ed Hutton thought, ‘Let’s have something for adults.’ He decided to contract with Playboy without checking with Joe to have the Playboy Bunny there. Joe came in Easter morning and Ed Hutton’s got this Playboy Bunny doing public appearances and getting photos taken. Joe wanted to rip Ed a new one. … They agreed to disagree and the Bunny stayed for the rest of the day. We never had the Bunny again, but Ed took as many photo ops as he could. Ed was a character.

Courtesy Allen Weitzel

A preconstruction tour of the park before it opened in 1961.

On the close of Frontier Village in 1980 …

We were at the point where if we continued, we had to do a lot of infrastructure rebuild. Some of the walkways needed permanent fixes. If we were going to close, it was the perfect time. We were on an emotional high. Everybody loved the place and it was still in pretty good condition. We closed because of outside forces, we didn’t go out of business. If it had to close, it was the right way at the right time, I think.

On the continued success of the Fall Guys …

When the park closed in 1980, Chuck (Lowe) kept the Fall Guys going and we started getting all these requests for gunfights and stunt shows and stuff from people who remembered Frontier Village. Chuck would call us up, and say, ‘This computer company wants a picnic.’ We’d go do gunfights for them, and get paid for doing that. Mike Martinez actually became a professional stunt man and has a stunt school in the San Francisco area. He did some stunts for Schwarzenegger in “Terminator 2″ and “Willow.”

On the strangest place they had a gunfight …

We did a gunfight for a condominium opening in Bakersfield. That was tough — we had to shoot in this little courtyard. I had to shoot Randy across the swimming pool, and he didn’t make it. He kept his gun out of the pool, but he didn’t get his body out of the pool.

On the fans’ continued interest in Frontier Village …

Courtesy Allen Weitzel

Longtime outlaw “Wild” Bill Kelsey thrills the crowd.

(When the park closed), we talked about buying a condo together on that property and meeting once a year and reminiscing. We thought that we would reminisce as workers and managers. We never had any idea that the guests would be as enamored with the place as they are. We were just as shocked as anybody with the success of the Web site. And there are hundreds of people at the reunions.

More on fan interest in Frontier Village …

The other thing that shocks everybody is the prices on EBay for all the memorabilia. I haven’t even kept track of all of it, but I know there have been items like a 5 cent postcard selling for 30, 40 or 50 bucks, or a pen that’s selling for $200. We also get so many e-mails, with detailed questions. “What were you thinking when you put that freezer in the back room?” “Well, we needed a freezer. That’s what we were thinking.”